Businesswoman Found Shot to Death in Home

Police are investigating the shooting death of a San Diego businesswoman whose pajama-clad body was found in the entrance of her Scripps Ranch home early Monday morning.

Georgia Haggai, 42, was found lying on the floor of her three-bedroom home in the 9900 block of Dichondra Court by police officers called to the area to investigate the sound of gunshots about 5 a.m., police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

When police arrived, they found the front door open and the screen door unlocked, said Sgt. Bob Manis of the department’s homicide division.

“They could see the body of a woman lying on the floor with a large German Shepherd standing guard and they didn’t want to disturb the scene, so they forced open both the garage door and the door leading from the garage into the kitchen (to enter the house),” said Manis.

Manis said Haggai received two gunshot wounds in the head and chest. One person told police he had heard loud voices coming from the house before the shooting, he said.

Police were also told that witnesses had seen someone fleeing the scene, but Manis would not say whether it was a man or woman.

There was no apparent motive, “no missing property, no robbery or burglary, as far as we can tell,” Manis said. No suspects have been arrested, but police are “pursuing several possibilities,” said Manis.

No weapon was recovered.

Haggai was owner and president of Kearny Mesa-based Georgia’s Inc., a temporary personnel service for accountants and bookkeepers. At the time of her death, she had also been serving as treasurer of the San Diego chapter of Soroptimist International, an organization for executive and professional women worldwide, said Florine Mardel, district director of the organization’s desert coast region.

She had been in line to become vice president of the club later on in the year, Mardel said.

In 1981, Haggai was honored with three other Soroptimists by the Central City Assn. and Soroptimist Club as one of their “Women of Accomplishment,” Mardel said.

Haggai was also an active member of other organizations, such as the San Diego Business and Professional Women’s Assn.

“She was a beautiful, lovely person . . . thoughtful and considerate . . . always doing things for other people,” said Mardel.

The autopsy will be conducted sometime this morning, the San Diego County Coroner’s office said.